Aribim Pepple has said he’d “love to play” for Luton and is looking forward to his first meeting with Hatters boss Matt Bloomfield after the summer break to see where his future lies.
The striker was signed in 2022 from Canadian Premier League side Cavalry as a development prospect and immediately loaned out to Grimsby.
The 22-year-old is yet to play for the Hatters but has enjoyed loan spells in the National League with Southend United and Leaguer Two with Chesterfield and now with Luton’s relegation to League One it’s closer to the level he has been operating at.
“I’d love to play for the club. They gave me an opportunity, so I’m grateful for that, so we’ll see,” he told the Blues News Podcast.
“I am Luton a player. I am going to get back into Luton for pre-season. I have not met the new gaffer yet. Obviously they have just come down to League One and I just played League Two last year and did pretty well.
“League One is not too far off so we will see. I will sit down with the gaffer and have a conversation with him about what is next for me, whether it’s at Luton.
“The biggest thing for is I want to be playing football. I enjoyed this last season. That’s the most minutes I’ve probably ever played in my career across both clubs, so yeah I want to continue that, keep developing, so we’ll see. I am a Luton player, my future is in their hands, so we will see what the club has planned for me.”
While he’s not played for Luton, People revealed that a few years out on loan was part of the deal when the Hatters hijacked his move to Forest Green Rovers to bring him over to England instead.
“When I signed they they kind of made it clear, [saying] ‘you’re going to be part of the first team but you’re a project player so you’re going to have to go on loan a bit. I’m expecting it to take a couple years for you to adapt and get to the level but it was still for me like ‘wow’, a moment I’m just grateful for
“I’m really grateful for them for bringing me over to England and just giving me the opportunity to kind of develop now.”
Despite still waiting to play for the first team, People returned from his spell at Grimsby in February 2023 so was around the squad when they won promotion to the Premier League.
He recalled: “The whole year was really weird. If you think about it, I was in Canada playing in the Canadian League and then next thing you know I’m experiencing the club get promoted to the Premier League. I didn’t actually get on the pitch at all but I was training with them every single day, I was in the changing room every day so obviously I’m seeing everything that goes into it. All the hard work that’s gone into it and just the quality at the standard and one of the biggest things that stuck with me was just that the belief in the changing room.
“When I came back in January their goal was, even when there were setbacks, everyone was [saying] were getting promoted to the Premier League. I think from the outside Luton was quite a a small club in the Championship and a lot of people had them as underdogs, smaller budget and stuff like that, but everyone there believed Luton is getting promoted to the Premier League so being there at Wembley and experiencing them getting getting promoted and just being in the changing room and stuff like that is something, even though I didn’t touch the pitch at all, is something that’s kind of lived with me forever.
“To be honest, it motivates me. I want to get there again but I want to be on the pitch this time. So it’s a great experience.”
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